For the previous century, small game or animals have been hunted largely with the use of arrow tips which were designed for target practice. These streamlined tips offer little resistance from complete penetration of the target animal, often allowing the arrow to pass through and exit the animal. This indicates a significant amount of energy of the traveling arrow is not being transferred to the animal, thereby reducing the effectiveness of the arrow and allowing the animal to only be wounded. Failure of the arrow to remain in the animal greatly increases the likelihood the wounded animal will travel a greater distance, thereby rendering recovery difficult or impossible. When an arrow, which is usually several times the length or width of the animal, is retained in the animal it impedes the animal's escape as it becomes entangled in vegetation. Also, these sharp ended arrow tips easily become lodged in trees when the intended target is missed, rendering recover difficult or impossible.
Blunted (flat faced) arrow tips are often used to restrict penetration and to transfer additional energy to the target animal. However, long distance shots or shots taken in heavy vegetation are often unable to sufficiently penetrate the animal, as excessive energy is expended before reaching the animal. Bows of average power or less, such as fifty-five pounds or less, are also unable to consistently penetrate animals using this type of tip. The combination of variations in the power of bows, physical weight of arrows, shooting distances, vegetation conditions, and the target toughness all affect the depth of animal penetration.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,905,470 to Earl H. Hoyt, Sep. 22, 1959, teaches an arrow tip comprising a fiat washer with a perpendicular center spike design located on the impacting end. The impacting end is a larger diameter than the shaft. In a second embodiment, a thin, triangular, vertical, planer blade replaces the spike. Flat leading surfaces, such as this washer do not allow smooth air flow past or over the tip, thus impeding the arrow flight. The flat area of the tip also fails to effectively deflect grass or foliage, therefore adding to the flight inaccuracy.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,254,958 to Earle W. Bateman, Mar. 10, 1981, teaches a multi-directional, thin, vertical sided washer for use as an attachment for an arrow tip. This washer is attached to an arrow shaft by passing the threaded portion of an arrow tip through a hole in the center of the washer and screwing the arrow tip into a threaded adaptor, which has been inserted into the arrow shaft. This attachment adds weight to the tip area of an arrow, causing the arrow shaft to flex more and fly differently than with the standard arrow tip alone. This additional weight also changes the balance point of the arrow, thereby causing the arrow to fly differently than standard practice tips.